Railway telephone system.



No. 663,2l6. Patented 000.4, I900;

E. E. CARPENTER.

RAILWAY TELEPHONE SYSTEM. A lication filed May 25. 1900.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

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Pdtented Dec. 4, I900.

, E. E. CARPENTER. RAILWAY TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

(Appligation filed May 25, 1900.!

' 2 Sheets-Shaat 2,

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

ELMER E. CARPENTER, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

RAILWAY TELEPHCjNE SYSTEM.

SPECIFICA' LION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,216, dated December 4, 1900.

Application filed May 25, 1900. Serial No. 17,913. (No model.) i

To (LI/Z whom it may concern- Be it known that I, ELMER E. CARPENTER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of Worcester and which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved telephone system for usein connection with electric railways; and the object of my present invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive,

and durable telephone system which will permit of telephone communication to the powerhouse or other central station from a car at any point on the line and in which the connection may be secured'without leaving the car.

To these ends myinvention consists of the telephone system as hereinafter described, of the combinations of parts therein, and of the circuit-making device for use in connection with cars as an article of manufacture, as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claim at the end of this specification. l

In the accompanying two sheets of drawings, Figure 1 is a fragmentary view illustrating a portion of an electric car and the application of my telephone system thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged broken-away view of the circuitmaking device. Fig. 3 is a front View thereof; and Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views taken-on the lines 4 and 5.

In operating electricrailway lines, especially on single-track lines, it has been found to be desirable to equip the line with a telephone system which will permit the conduc-' tors or drivers of the cars to communicate with the central station or power-house in -plete telephone instrument or station was installed at each turnout ofthe line.

The equipping of an electric-railway line with a telephone at each one of its turnouts is necessarily quite expensive, and in practice this arrangement has been found to be obljectionable, as it will not permit of a call being made from a car when at other points 011 the line than at the turnouts. In addition to. this the telephone instruments themselves when inclosed in boxes at the turnouts along the line are frequently destroyed or injured by mischievous or ignorant persons. To avoid the objections to a telephone system installed in this manner, it is now frequently the custom to provide the conductor of each car with a telephone instrument, which is taken from the car and hung upon a telephone-pole, so as to make connections with suitable terminals upon various ones of the poles which carry the telephone-line. In practice it has been found that the installation of a telephone system operating upon this principle is expensive on account of the wiring and cost of the terminals upon the several posts carrying the telephone-wires, and in operating either of the telephone systems now employed in connection with electric cars it is necessary for the conductor to leave the car before being able to use the telephone.

The especial object of my present invention is therefore to provide a telephone system in which the telephone instruments are mounted in fixed position in the cars and to string the telephone-wires so that a connection from the telephone instrument in the car may be had at any desired point along the line by .mea-nsof a circuit-making device or pole,

such connection being secured without the necessity of leaving the car.

Referring to the drawings and in detail, A designates one of the posts of an ordinary trolley-line, having a bracket B, carrying the trolley-line O in the ordinary manner. Acar D is shown as provided with the ordinary trolley for receiving the current from the trolley line C. Permanently fastened or mount-ed inthe car in any desired location, preferably in one of the vestibules of the car, is a telephone instrument E, and strung upon the poles A are the telephone-wires F. To make connection from the telephone instrument E with the telephone-wires F, I employ a circuit-making device G. The construction of the circuit-making device is most clearly illustrated in the second sheet of drawings. As shown therein, the circuit-making device consists of a body portion or pole preferably comprising two or more sections 10 and 11,

which have ferrules fitting substantially in the same manner as an ordinary fishpolek 16 at their ends for connection with suitable sockets of the telephone instrument. When the circuit-making device as thus constructed is not in use, the two or more sections thereof maybe taken apart and the circuit-making device hung up or supported on suitable hooks, as 1), inside the car or in other convenient location, as desired.

Where the poles carrying the telephonewires are some distance from the track or cannot be conveniently reached from the car the circuit-making pole may be made in three or more sections, as may be desired.

In the drawings forming part of this application I have illustrated two telephonewires, indicating that a metallic-circuit wiringis preferred, although a grounded telephone system having a single Wire may be employed, if desired.

In operating a telephone system as thus arranged it will be seen that the telephone in the car may be put in circuit at any desired point along the line, and inasmuch as all terminals upon the posts and all separate telephone instruments at the turnouts or elsewhere are dispensed with I have provided a system which may be installed and operated more cheaply than the systems now usually em ployed in connection with electric railways.

I am aware that numerous changes may be made in the arrangements and details of construction in my telephone system by those who are skilled in the art, and I do not wish, therefore, to be limited to the forms herein shown and described; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

In a telephone system for electric railways, the combination of a telephone instrument mounted in a car, telephone line-wires ex- "tending along the track upon which the car runs, and a circuit-making device comprising a jointed pole having two contact-strips 12 mounted therein with springs or hooks 13 carried in position to cooperate with thecontactstrips 12, and flexible wires connected to the contact-strips, whereby connection from the telephone instrument on the car may be es tablished without leaving the car, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELMER E. CARPENTER.

Witnesses:

LOUIS W. SOUTHGATE, PHILIP W. SOUTHGATE. 

